SRC to re­vive Byo sports, recre­ational de­vel­op­ment pro­gramme

THE Sports and Recre­ation Com­mis­sion (SRC) Bu­l­awayo will launch a Com­mu­nity Sports and Recre­ational De­vel­op­ment Pro­gramme (CSRDP) for Mzi­likazi dis­trict at Emakhan­deni grounds next month.

CSRDP is an ini­tia­tive whose pur­pose is to iden­tify tal­ent at grass­roots level as well as dis­cour­ag­ing crim­i­nal ac­tiv­i­ties by mem­bers of the com­mu­nity through par­tic­i­pa­tion in sports.

Com­mu­nity sports have been in­ac­tive in the city since 2013, but are set to re­turn as an or­gan­ised ini­tia­tive un­der the Min­istry of Sport and Recre­ation.

The re­vival of com­mu­nity games will see teams from Bu­l­awayo’s wards com­pet­ing in soc­cer, netball, vol­ley­ball, tug of war and box­ing.

Com­mu­nity wards are ex­pected to reg­is­ter their clubs un­der the Min­istry of Sport and Recre­ation by the end of the month in dif­fer­ent sport­ing dis­ci­plines.

“We will be launch­ing this pro­gramme on De­cem­ber 3 and we ex­pect ev­ery ward to have clubs that will be com­pet­ing in league games as well as inter-ward com­pe­ti­tions.

“We are work­ing to­gether with ward coun­cil­lors as well as the Bu­l­awayo Res­i­dents As­so­ci­a­tion to give us ac­cess to recre­ational cen­tres around the city and they sup­port the idea.

“Those cen­tres should be avail­able for ev­ery com­mu­nity mem­ber and we wish to en­sure that they serve their pur­poses,” said Mzi­likazi dis­trict de­vel­op­ment sports co­or­di­na­tor Mlin­dazwe Mab­hena.

“This pro­gramme will pro­mote ac­tiv­i­ties like youth ed­u­ca­tion through sport whereby we want to re­duce crim­i­nal ac­tiv­i­ties. Clubs must be reg­is­tered with the Min­istry of Sport and Recre­ation be­cause we want to avoid do­ing sports hap­haz­ardly. When they have reg­is­tered, they can be eas­ily mon­i­tored with the help of ward coun­cil­lors,” Mab­hena said.

CSRDP sec­re­tary Mor­ris Muk­witi said the pro­gramme will also play an im­por­tant role in the com­mu­nity as it will en­able mem­bers to stay fit and avoid pre-ma­ture deaths.

“Most peo­ple die pre-ma­ture deaths, which can be eas­ily pre­vented through ex­er­cise. Through this ini­tia­tive we en­cour­age res­i­dents to take part in sports or any other recre­ational ac­tiv­ity to curb dis­eases.

“I also be­lieve that there is a lot of tal­ent out there which needs to be nur­tured at an early stage, so this pro­gramme will serve that pur­pose and pro­duce su­per­stars,” he added. - @khumza­llen